During last night’s episode of Counting On, Duggar fans finally got to enjoy the moment they’ve been waiting for all season.
Yes, after eight weeks of televised courtship, Jeremy Vuolo popped the question to Jinger Duggar.
Considering that’s about how long the couple courted in real life, it was considerably longer than fans expected to wait, but better late than never, right?
But while Jeremy’s rooftop proposal in NYC is dominating this morning’s discussion of the episode, there were smaller, more unexpected moments that left their marks on fans as well.
One of them involved the close bond between sisters-in-law Jana and Anna Duggar.
The two women are often identified as the most obvious victims of the Duggar clan’s outmoded patriarchal society.
In addition to the fact that she almost certainly suffered sexual abuse at the hands of brother Josh, Jana has been made to stay home and help care for her younger siblings while her sisters leave the nest to make lives of their own.
Anna, of course, has been pressured to stay with her philandering husband in the wake of the Josh Duggar sex scandals, and while she’s proven her ability to smile for the cameras on countless occasions, on last night’s episode, she offered viewers a glimpse at her inner turmoil.
During a scene at the Duggar compound back in Arkansas, Anna opened up about how grateful she is to have Jana in her life.
“She will make an amazing wife one day,” Anna told the camera.
“But selfishly right now, I’m so thankful I’ve had her as a shoulder to cry on.”
Obviously, it stands to reason that Josh and Anna have a long way to go in repairing their marriage (or at least that Josh has a long way to go in convincing Anna not to leave him).
But since it’s so rare that we see Anna open about the difficulties she’s endured over the past 18 months, it’s easy to forget how painful her home life must be.
Anna talking about Jana’s future marital prospects and her own sadness and desperation in the same sentence made for one of the most moving scenes in of reality television that the Duggars have offered up in recent memory.
Of course, like the network that made them famous, the Duggars prefer to focus on shiny, happy moments like Jinger and Jeremy’s wedding, and it’s not hard to see why.
Still, we applaud the producers who decided to take a moment to acknowledge those who have crushed by the inexorable Duggar baby-making machine.
Watch Counting On online in order to get caught up on Season 2.
It may be that while viewers were waiting for the big moment between Jinger and Jeremy, a smaller, much more compelling story was unfolding all along.